Witness: Denton-McCaster lied to borrow gun

A former UIS student who loaned Juatasha Denton-McCaster the gun authorities believe she used to kill her husband testified on Monday.

By Chris DettroStaff Writer

The former University of Illinois Springfield student who loaned Juatasha Denton-McCaster the gun authorities believe she used to kill her husband said Monday the woman borrowed the handgun on Oct. 24, 2012, and returned it the next day.

Derek Mormino of Bethalto said he had two classes with Denton-McCaster in fall 2012 and that she had told him she was in the National Guard but hadn't yet been taught how to shoot. He said he knew the woman as Juatasha Denton and did not know she was married.

Denton-McCaster wasn't a member of the National Guard, but her husband, 22-year-old Norman Raymel McCaster, was.

She knew Mormino owned guns and asked him if she could borrow one overnight because her father was coming to town from Chicago to take her to the National Guard shooting range. She said she had ordered a gun online but that it had not yet arrived and she didn't want her father to think she was lying about going to shoot.

Denton-McCaster, 24, is on trial charged with first-degree murder, concealment of a homicidal death, dismemberment of a body and obstruction of justice. She was arrested on Nov. 26, 2012, almost a month after a headless, footless and handless torso was found at the bottom of an embankment near Mechanicsburg on Nov. 29, 2012.

The body later was identified as that of Norman McCaster, who lived with his wife in the 1400 block of North Grand Avenue West.

Mormino told Sangamon County State's Attorney John Milhiser that he gave Denton-McCaster his .380 Ruger and a magazine with six bullets in it sometime the afternoon of Oct. 24 at UIS.

When Denton-McCaster returned the gun between 1:30 and 2 p.m. the next day, she referred to it as “my little friend,” Mormino said. The magazine had only four bullets in it, and she told Mormino she lost two shells when replacing them after she had switched out her own bullets in the gun.

When he heard about Denton-McCaster's arrest, he went to an attorney and put the gun and magazine in the attorney's safe until Sangamon County sheriff's detectives came for it.

Under cross-examination from assistant Sangamon County public defender Lindsay Evans, Mormino said he would have been hesitant to loan Denton-McCaster the gun if she had told him she needed it for self-protection.

Computer search

Also Monday, Illinois State Police computer evidence expert Jeff Knauer testified that he examined a laptop computer taken from Denton-McCaster's home.

He told assistant state's attorney Matthew Weir that he found a password-protected user name and that he cracked the password. He searched the computer, and after narrowing down search terms, found the user in the month before McCaster's death had searched terms and websites that included “how to kill someone with Visine,” “hired hit men in Springfield,” “ways to kill people,” “best way to kill someone and not get caught,” “how to poison people,” “can dog food kill humans?” “where can you buy poison mushrooms?” “types of firearms,” and on Oct. 24, 2012, “guns.”

Sheriff's detectives testified earlier in the trial that they found a bag with several empty bottles of Visine eye drops in Denton-McCaster's trash but did not preserve them because they didn't realize they could be related to the case.

William H. Anderson, a forensic toxicologist testified via Skype from Reno, Nev., that he examined fluid taken from McCaster's chest cavity and found no evidence of any drugs, but confirmed he smoked cigarettes. The tests used would confirm the presence of about 350 common drugs, both legal and illegal, he said.

Anderson said he was asked to run another test for tetrahydrozoline, an ingredient in some types of Visine and other eye drops.

Anderson said the compound has been used in sexual assault cases to make a victim lose consciousness and that above-normal levels of it were found in McCaster's liver.

Picked up last check

Julie Hamilton, who formerly worked for Express Employment Professionals in Springfield, testified that McCaster was a client in 2012, and that she helped him obtain two long-term jobs — one with Solomon Colors and one with Richardson Manufacturing.

She said McCaster never tested positive for any drugs, nor did he ever call in sick or have any other problems while on the job.

“I would have been notified if there was a problem,” she said.

When McCaster didn't show up for work at Richardson on Oct. 29 and again on Oct. 30, she testified she tried to contact him.

When Denton-McCaster came in to pick up her husband's check on Nov. 8, she told Hamilton that McCaster's mother had died and that he was depressed and wouldn't leave the house.

The defense is expected to begin presenting its case to the seven-man, five-woman jury Tuesday. ?Circuit Judge Pete Cavanagh is presiding over the trial, which is entering its second week.